Age of Sigmar/Tactics/Order/Daughters of Khaine

Grand Alliance Order Daughters of Khaine

Much bloodier and less NSFW than it appears.

Lore Tactics General Tactics

NEW BATTLETOME IS HERE!

Why play Daughters of Khaine?

• You like the idea of playing an army of bloodthirsty, fanatical murderers but don't like Chaos.
• You like the continuation of Morathi's story arc, and want to see her make her mark on the setting.
• 9/10 units and characters are Hot Chicks and Monstergirls in bikinis. With the right choices, you literally have an army of hot chicks and monstergirls in bikinis.
• You always wanted to play as Drow in Warhammer (replacing spiders with snakes... though if you like spiders, them and other Drow aesthetic are a Homebrew away).

Pros

• Morathi-Khaine is one of the most powerful playable characters in the game. As a goddess with two bodies, she is on par with big god-like models.
• Some of the best melee in the setting, only a few such as really big boys, the best followers of big red or the elven methheads can hit like you do in combat.
• They're a jack-of-all-trades able to fight in every phase with melee, shooting, magic, decent movement and bravery shenanigans.
• A monster that DOESN'T GET LESS EFFECTIVE IF IT TAKES WOUNDS (that also double as a giant angry statue of their god).
• Plenty of movement tricks. Your basic troops (Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter) have the ability to run and charge with only a musician, everything else except the heroes and Cauldron of Blood/Bloodwrack Shrines have movement 8-14, you can reroll 1s to run turn 1, 1s to charge turn 2, plus Deep Striking Khinerai, Khailebron's deep striking ability and Lore of Shadows spells that boost movement.
• The new rules for shooting at characters give the enemy -1 to hit unless the target is a monster. Think the Cauldron of Blood or the Bloodwrack Shrine would count? Nope, they're not Monsters. Keep them close to a unit and watch them get to combat unmolested.
• The Cauldron of Blood, with the right combination of relics, Command Traits and prayers is straight busted, coming in with a nightmarish amount of damage output both in shooting and close combat, powerful support abilities and the ability to heal itself through multiple avenues for 300-330 points.
• Shooting is actually good now. Blood Stalkers have two shots now and with Morathi can shoot twice in a turn. 80 shots with 6's doing mortal wounds? Yes please. Also now an actual viable strat since they are batteline now.
• Despite being as near-naked as the Fyreslayers, you've got more variety of unit types so you don't have to worry about getting tired after painting the same colors for 60-80 models.

Cons

• These chicks are almost as naked as the fyreslayers, but they don't have fancy runes or 2 wounds to tide them over. Apart from their 6+ fanatical faith save, they have the usual Glass Cannon problem of being flimsy. Our Infantry has a 6+ Save, and the other units - apart from Morathi - are softer than their equivalents in other armies unless you make the right choices (such as Hagg Narr and/or throw in a Cauldron. And don’t forget the bladed bucklers)
• They are rather expensive to collect in dollars, and even spending lots of money on models can still leave you with a comparatively low model count.
• They do not play well with others. If you're playing Daughters of Khaine, you're playing them in a Daughters of Khaine Allegiance army. They are incredibly reliant on their faction abilities to turn them from a bunch of expensive fragile units with some pretty good close combat into a unified army with some of the most brutal close combat in the game. You can ally other stuff into them, don't ally them with other stuff. (Not entirely true, Khinari Heartrenders slot nicely into most Order soup lists as its a good deepstrike bully unit)
• Not a magic heavy army (but can be a strong magically defensive army). Bar Morathi-Khaine, you only have the Bloodwrack Medusa, who only gives you one spell/two dispels per turn without relics or artifacts and the Doomfire Warlocks. Mitigated a bit by the Doomfire Warlocks who can hit hard and get a casting bonus in units of 5 (which is what you want).

Rulebooks

Faction rules and abilities: Battletome Daughters of Khaine and Broken Realms: Morathi

Latest Matched play points: Daughters of Khaine Errata

Core rules: here

Matched play rules, battleplans and expansions: General's Handbook 2022-23 Season 2, plus the battleplans from the Core Book.

Supplement all the above with any Errata and Designers' Commentary from the FAQs.

Allegiance Abilities

Battle Traits

Fanatical Faith

Daughters of Khaine can ignore wounds allocated to them on a 6+. Sweet.

Blood Rites

The fantasy variant of "Power From Pain". Every turn your units get a brand new special rule that stacks for the rest of the game.

1. Quickening Bloodlust: Reroll run rolls of 1.
2. Headlong Fury: Reroll dice rolls of 1 when charging.
3. Zealot's Rage: Rerolls 1s to hit in melee. In addition, an Avatar of Khaine always counts as being animated.
4. Slaughterer's Strength: Reroll 1s to wound in melee
5. Unquenchable Fervour: Your units rerolls saves of 1, and do not need to take battleshock tests.

Command Traits

Aelve Generals Only

1. Bathed in Blood: Increase your wound characteristic by 1 and you can heal 1 wound at the start of each hero phase. Good on a Cauldron of Blood, but there are better ways to get your wounds back.
2. Zealous Orator: Add 2 to the bravery charteristic of units wholly within 12". Worse than the old version for elves, better for snakes, and not as important anymore since Mindrazor now doesn't require higher bravery +1 dmg.
3. Sacrifical Overseer: Add 1 to the hit rolls of the General's weapons. Lot of good options here, but this seems like a waste of a Command Trait, given you can have other better options.
4. Terrifying Beauty: Subtract 1 on hit rolls against the General. Putting this on the Cauldron of Blood will drive your opponent insane. Stacks with the existing -1 against shooting for heroes close to a unit, meaning that everyone shooting at you will have a -2 to hit you.
5. Master of Poisons: Add 1 to the General's weapons Damage characteristics. A Slaughter Queen with this will wipe out a unit a turn.
6. True Believer: Ups the turn number for the unit's Blood Rites. Good to get an Avatar of Khaine awake turn 2 (turn 1 in a Hagg Nar army) and just generally a good choice.

BloodWrack Medusa only

1. Arcane Mastery: Reroll 1 casting, dispelling, or unbinding attempt in your hero phase, really good since the nerf to shadowstone ,and Mindrazor had the bump up to CV 8 but whether it's worth not taking a subfaction for is debatable.
2. Writhing Coils: Substract 1 from hit rolls made against this general. Always good, shooting more than melee, so might as well just take Khailebron and get teleporting while you're at it.
3. Fearsome Presence: Reroll failed Battleshock tests for units wholly within 12". You're probably running snakes with a medusa general, so why not just take Zainthar Kai get +1 bravery and/or take the battalion that makes it so you don't take battleshock.

Melusai Ironscale Only

1. Veteran of the Cathrar Dhule: Recieve a CP on a 4+ while this general is on the battlefield in the hero phase
2. Impenenetrable Scales: Add 1 to save rolls for this general. Gives your Melusai a 4+ instead of a 5+ save.
3. Fuelled by Revenge: Use your Wrath of the Scathborn command ability for free once per battle.

Gifts of Morathi

(Can be given to any Daughter of Khaine Hero)

1. Crown of Woe: Subtract 1 from the bravery of enemy units within 7". This range doubles to 14" the first time the bearer slays an enemy model.
2. Shadracar's Fang: One of the bearers melee weapons adds +1 to hit rolls. Also unmodified sixes do 1 mortal wound
3. Amulet of Dark Fire: The bearer negates mortal wounds inflicted by spells on a 4+.
4. Crone Blade: One of the bearers melee weapons heals the user by d3 at the end of combat phase if any units were slain with that weapon
5. Thousand and One Dark Blessings: Nerf Bat Edition, No longer gives +1 save but instead gives you a 5+ FNP instead of a 6+
6. Bloodbane Venom: If the bearer wounds an opponent but does not slay them, roll a dice after the combat phase. If the number equals/beats the victim's wound characteristic then it is slain outright.

Artefacts of Shadow

(Bloodwrack Medusa only)

1. Shadow Stone: Add +1 to any casting attempts for Lore of Shadows spells. Helpful for making sure you get an important spell off. +1 to Casting the Withering is never a bad thing. Best way to get Mindrazor off. Nerf bat removed the re-reolling 1's on casts, still good but not the most have it was
2. Rune of Ulgu: Bearer knows one extra Lore of Shadows spell. More options are never a bad thing.
3. The Mirror Glaive: Each time the Bearer unbinds a spell, they can attempt to cast Arcane Bolt or Mystic Shield as if it was the Hero phase. If successful this spell can't be unbound. Better now that the Medusa can unbind 2 spells.
4. Seven-fold Shadow: Once per battle, instead of moving you can set them up anywhere on the battlefield more than 9" from Enemy units. This uses up thier movement phase. You already have dozens of ways of teleporting units so this is a pass.
5. Crystal Heart: Bearer can cast a second spell in the Hero Phase. If they do they roll a d6, taking d3 Mortal Wounds on a 1.
6. Shade Claw: The Medusa's Whisperclaw is now -2 Rend. Helps out your Medusa in melee, so worth considering if you have them on a Bloodwrack Shrine.

Relics of Khaine

(Daughters of Khaine Priests only)

1. Blood Sigil: Bearer gains one additional Prayer. More options is never bad.
2. Iron Circlet: Bearer re-rolls 1's when seeing if a prayer is successful. Prayers Manifest on a 3+ and all have very useful buffs so this can be helpful
3. Rune of Khaine: Bearer explodes on death. Roll a dice. One 1 nothing happens. On 2-5 the unit that killed them takes D3 Mortal Wounds. On a 6, the unit takes D6. Works against any attack and doesn't have a ranged restriction so going by RAW, your Hero can explode and do the Mortal Wounds against something across the table.. Main problem is that you want your Hag Queens alive as much as possible because Witchbrew is just that good. Witch Elves are your cannon fodder, and should really be dying instead.
4. Crimson Shard: Add 2 to wound to wound rolls for one of the bearers melee attacks. Pretty solid on a Cauldron as they will be getting stuck into melee anyway.
5. Khaineite Pendant: Bearer can Pray three times in one Hero Phase, but the first time you roll a 1 to manifest a prayer, they take d3 Mortal Wounds instead of 1. Extremely useful as your Prayers are all very useful. Being able to spam them is awesome. Probably your default choice.
6. Hagbrew: Add +1 to Wound Rolls for the Bearer's melee weapons. Nice on a Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood. Turns the Slaughter Queen on Cauldron into a death machine.

Prayers of the Khainite Cult

1. Catechism of Murder: Pick a Friendly Daughters of Khaine unit wholly within 14". Any 6's to hit explode and deal 2 hits.
2. Blessing of Khaine: Pick a friendly Daughters of Khaine unit wholly within 14". They re-roll failed FNP rolls from Fanatical Faith. With Hagg Nar, bucklers and the Cauldron buff, your units now have a 4+, then rerollable 5+ saves. You can take a charge quite happily, then murder whatever dared getting close in your turn with ease...
3. Martyr's Sacrifice: Pick a friendly Daughters of Khaine unit wholly within 14". Each time a model is killed in the Combat Phase, roll a d6. The dead model deals an extra Mortal Wound on a 5+ to a unit within 3". Stacks with the Bucklers.
4. Crimson Rejuvination: Pick a friendly Daughters of Khaine unit within wholly 14", That unit heals 1d3 Wounds. Still can't target Morathi since her special rules don't allow her to be healed
5. Covenant of the Iron Heart: Pick a friendly Daughters of Khaine unit wholly within 14". That unit does not need to take Battleshock tests.
6. Sacrament of Blood: Pick a friendly Daughters of Khaine unit wholly within 14". That unit counts the current battle round as being 1 higher for determining Blood Rites traits. Stacks with other abilities that give this effect.

Lore of Shadows

The Lore of Shadows we all know and love is back! Note that Doomfire Warlocks are Wizards and can take a spell from here despite not being a Hero unit. EDIT: Doomfires cannot cast spells outside of their warscroll. But they are an impressive melee unit to compensate.

1. Steed of Shadows: Casting Value 6. Caster can Fly and has a 16" Move.
2. Pit of Shades: Casting Value 7. Pick an Enemy Unit within 18" of the caster, within line of sight, and roll 2d6. That unit takes 1 Mortal Wound for each point the 2d6 exceeds their Movement. Awesome against tough, but slow units. That Death player who keeps tarpitting you with blobs of 40 Skeletons? This spell was designed for you, followed up with a Bloodwrack Stare.
3. Mirror Dance: Casting Value 6. Pick two Daughters of Khaine Heroes wholly within 18" of the Caster. Set them up more than 9" away from enemy unit, they cannot move in the following movement phase.
4. The Withering: Casting Value 7. Pick an enemy unit within 18" of the caster within Line of Sight. Until the next Hero Phase add +1 to Wound Rolls for all attacks that target that unit. You should always have this.
5. Mindrazor: Casting Value 8. Nerf Bat Edition. Pick a friendly Daughters of Khaine unit wholly within 18" of the caster. All of that units melee weapons gain an additional -1 Rend and gain 1 extra damage if that unit charged. Our Most used spell and a must have for the -1 Rend alone. No longer gives +1 dmg for having higher bravery, better against demons and undead, but in extended combat. But with the Khelt Nar sub faction you can retreat and charge, and you get an additional rend on the charge with Elves in Drachi Ganeth. But it also has a CV of 8 now making it harder to cast
6. Shroud of Despair: Casting Value 4. Pick an enemy unit within 18" and within Line of Sight. They take -1 to Bravery until the next Hero Phase. If the Casting roll was 8+, they take -d3 Bravery Instead.

Endless Spells

1. Bloodwrack Viper: 40 points. Casting value 7. After this model has moved, pick one unit within 1" of it and roll 3 dice. For each dice roll that beats the wounds characteristic per model for that unit, one model from the unit is slain. Good at weakening units of multi-wound models, and will be a major thorn in the side of elite armies.

2. Bladewind: 40 points. Casting value 6. Any unit that was passed across by this model or is within 1" when it ends its movement suffers D3 Mortal Wounds. Enemy units within 12" also don't get the cover modifier for their save rolls.

3. Heart of Fury: 80 points. An Invocation rather than a spell. Subtract 1 from the damage inflicted (to a minimum of 1) for each successful attack targeting a Daughters of Khaine unit wholly within 12" of this model. Very nice defensively, but there's a catch. At the start of each battle round, Heart of Fury ends unless you roll a 4+ (add +1 if there's any friendly Avatars of Khaine within 6"). Good against armies with high damage weapons, though the caveat is a minor inconvenience and it doesn't work on special tricks (eg; attacks that deal Mortal Wounds in addition to normal damage).

Temples of Blood

You may claim your army hails from one of the six temples listed here. All were nerfed heavily from the previous edition, but they were also streamlined and still give some benefit to your army.

Hagg Nar

• Daughters of the First Temple: Add 1 to the current battle round when determining the abilities gained from Blood Rites.

A good Jack Jill of all trades, master of none that's worth considering.

Draichi Ganeth

• Ability - Bladed Killers: Improve the rend characteristics of weapons wielded by the Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter by 1 on the turn they charge.

The offensive option. Add a Bloodwrack Medusae and/or Morathi-Khaine to throw Mindrazor on units and you'll rain on the parade of armies like Stormcast, non-horde Chaos armies and Ossiarch Bonereapers. Combining the numbers of a horde army with the hitting power of an elite army as it applies only to Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter, they're the best choice for a melee-focused force.

The Kraith

• Ability - Disciples of Slaughter: At the end of the combat phase, roll a dice for each Kraith Sister of Slaughter that fought once in that phase. On a 4+, they can fight again but strike last for the second round of combat.

The double-tap/horde killer option. The ability is decent, but striking last can sting and the ability only applies to Sisters of Slaughter. Look elsewhere unless you really like Sisters of Slaughter.

Khailebron

• Command Ability - Masters of the Shadowpaths: At the end of the movement phase choose a friendly unit and a Khailebron hero to issue the command. Pull the unit off the battlefield and Deep Strike them anyplace outside of 9 inches of the enemy. This unit cannot move in the next movement phase. Essentially turns all of your units into pseudo Khinerai units and can even be used to pull them out of an unfavorable combat.

A tricksy temple, but amazing when you know how to use it. Shooting armies will hate the Khailebron Temple, especially Kharadron Overlords (suck it, you godless stunties!). Since the command trait is an ability not a spell your opponent will have to play around it every round. Just remember to keep your heroes out of harm's way. Recommended to take Morathi-Khaine in this army to maximize it's usage.

Khelt Nar

• Ability - Strike and Fade: Khelt Nar units can retreat and charge later in the same turn.

Alternate movement shenanigans. No teleporting like the Khailebron, but it's not hero-dependent either. While a fun playstyle, and recommended if you really like Khinerai Harpies or want to mess with your opponent, if you want to play competitively, other temples are recommended.

Zainthar Kai

• Abilities - Khaine’s Essence: Each time a friendly Zainthar Kai Melusai is slain, they can fight again before being removed from play.

Snakes on a pla(ying field). The Melusai are already pretty crazy, this will make opponents even more reluctant to engage them in combat. But it only effects Melusai units. Also, beware shooty and/or magic heavy armies, as they'll render this ability nigh useless, so don't take it against - for example - Kharadron Overlords or Lumineth Realm-lords.

For competitive play, Hagg Nar is the best defensive option, Draichi Ganeth is the best offensive option and Khailebron for the tactical geniuses.

Warscrolls

The common keywords of these warscrolls are: ORDER, AELF and DAUGHTERS OF KHAINE.

Named Characters

Morathi-Khaine and The Shadow Queen

This version of Morathi got a price hike to 680 points and has both versions of the new goddess of murder on the board at the same time. Their stats are largely unchanged including importantly the 3 wound per turn rule (there are some changes: The shooting attack on the Shadow Queen is now a straight D6 damage attack, Morathi doesn't double casting range anymore but her personal spell is range 36), but there are some important changes. Morathi-Khaine also has -1 to hit her in combat while the Shadow Queen boosts the attacks of Khinerai and Melusai units if she's within 3" of an enemy. Both versions are now immune to instant death (suck it Nagash) and wounds done to Morathi-Khaine carry over to Shadow Queen, with both disappearing when the Shadow Queen goes down. You should also note that Morathi always counts as a general, even if you have another general, and the old trick of dealing wounds to her outside of the turn to get around her 3 wounds per turn thing no longer works. All in all, the selling point here is that you get her powerhouse casting and all the spells from the Lore of Shadows, and command ability, while still getting brutal close combat power and some buffs and debuffs, which is a hell of a selling point. These two can take on almost any named character in the game (even Gotrek will struggle) and at 680 points, they better.

Morgwaeth the Bloodied and Hag Coven

(80 points) The models from the recent Daughters of Khaine Underworlds warband. Functionally just a named Hag Queen with a range 2 dagger and a handful of extra models. Can now take artifacts and command traits, plus comes with the Hagg Narr keyword, but can take another Prayer. Let's get real here: the selling point is that her Warband can intercept wounds for her on a 4+. Almost auto include in the new battletome (unless it is indeed a typo and needs errata) as she is now 10pts cheaper than a Hag Queen with essentially 4-5 more wounds.

Heroes

• Slaughter Queen: (100pts) The old Death Hag got split in two, the Slaughter Queen has pair of weapons: The "meh" Blade of Khaine which is pretty much a bog-standard weapon, combined with the a stronger but ridiculously named "Deathsword" which has a slightly better profile and does D3 damage; She is your primary priest, always casting on a 3+ but wounding herself on a 1. Unfortunately, her prayers are... weird, she isn't really a fantastic buffer for friendly units. is an incredibly unreliable way of tossing Mortal Wounds at your enemy and the other is a buff. That can only target her. Though to be fair, the buff is pretty good, increasing her meh knife's damage to D3, essentially matching her Deathsword, which will put the lady at 7 damage D3 attacks, enough to kill bigger units all on her own. Her other good prayer is the ability to fight twice in the combat phase, which you should use if she goes up against hordes rather than monsters. She can also have this ability as a command ability, allowing a friendly unit to pile in during the hero phase. The last prayer is an odd one, forcing your opponent to play "guess which hand" or suffer D3 mortal wounds... essentially a bizarre throwback to old legacy rules. In short, altogether she is a 5 wound 5+ save model who will die to angry thoughts if she gets to close to an actual combat. Leave her at home unless she's your general or you're running Shadowhammer compact; IF you take her as general her command ability makes your Witch Aelves kill more than what a Hag Queen would do, making her a better option in this case. *One thing to remember is that priests get an extra prayer from the list of khainite prayers, and therefore can actually pray twice in your hero phase.

• She can also attempt to unbind one spell in your enemy's hero phase as if she were a wizard, which is nothing to be sniffed at. If you have Bloodwracks as well, you can effectively shut down your opponent's magic every turn.

• Hag Queen: (90pts) The slaughter queen's little sister and amazing supporting choice. She doesn't have the Deathsword, the Dance of Doom prayer, the ability to unbind spells, or any command ability. Instead she has a chalice of Witchbrew which allows a friendly DoK unit within 3" to re-roll wounds until your next hero phase AND makes your units immune to battle shock. She can turn a unit of 30 Witch Aelves into an unstoppable orgy of slaughter. Until AoS2 comes in, two Hag queens are mandatory in pretty much any DoK list. AoS3 is here and hags went to 100pts. This mixed with increase of the shooting meta makes hags an issue. However, for an extra 40pts (140pts total) its recommended to take Morgwaeth’s Blade-coven, the beastgrave unit. Same as a standard had except has a mini unit to assist, and on a 4+ you can transfer wounds from Morgwaeth to the unit. Side unit is two witch aelves, a sister of slaughter and a blood stalker. With the new battletome you have to roll to see if you get the rerolling and no battleshock on a 5+. But as the rounds go on these you get +1's as you get buffs. +1 on rounds 2, 3, and 4, so by the time round 4 comes you'll be rolling for it on a 2+, if she's still alive by then.

• Hag Queen on Cauldron of Blood (220pts) & Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood (270pts): (Behemoth) A centerpiece in every sense of the word. It draws the eye and is absolutely essential for turning an assortment of powerful units into a coherent army. Basically a straight upgrade for one of the Queens with an Avatar of Khaine strapped to the same model; needing to be animated with prayers each turn (or wait for Blood Rites to kick in by turn 3) This also means that there is practically no situation where the Avatar will be without a Priestess to animate him since they are both sharing the same model in this case, making it a safer bet than marching either of them around solo where one or the other can get picked off. It also has extra attacks thanks to the attendant sisters and an added charge bonus which inflicts Mortal Wounds. It also allows DoK units within a diminishing range to add +1 to their save rolls, so this unit is definitely worth having considering how fragile the army is in general, though there really isn't much more to say beyond the standard rules for the Hag/Slaughter Queens. The Slaughter Queen on Cauldron of Blood is almost always going to be the general in any Daughters of Khaine army. It's buffs, bulk, command ability, and output are just too good not to use.
  • If you are still considering which way to go between the Shrine or the Cauldron. You are mostly weighing up whether you want the Aura of Agony for causing mortal wounds in a radius, or the Bloodshield for giving your sisters a +1 to saves. Everything else is pretty much the sum of the model's parts since the actual Shrine/Cauldron itself has mostly the same profile and attacks in either version simply added to whatever hero is mounted on top of it, which you could have deployed separately. However one big factor to remember is that the Cauldron of Blood can still move around the tabletop without having to animate the Avatar, leaving your Priestess to use a different prayer in her hero phase if you want to.
  • If you want a death-train, make a Slaughterqueen on this thing your general, then give her Mistress of Poisons, the Crone Blade and Catechism of Murder, wait for Turn 3 then charge something; you'll get +1 to the damage of all your melee hits since Mistress of Poisons works for all of the cauldron's attacks, and with Crone Blade on the Avatar's attack you get more than a chance to cause casualties and recover wounds, since it now does 4 damages per non saved attack, compensating for your fragility ( you still have 13 wounds with a 4+ save but some generals can be tougher); factor in Catechism of Murder ( solid, given this model has 19 attacks) and a self cast Orgy of Slaughter and... well, you won't regret skipping one of the temples for this. IF you don't care about the Crone Blade, take a Hagbrew instead.

• Bloodwrack Medusa: (100pts) Oh boy, looks like GW gained a bit of our love for Monstergirls, because the Bloodwrack Medusa got better and 40 points cheaper. They've gone from "a good choice for any list" to "you are playing this game wrong if you don't have one (and aren't using Morathi-Khaine either)" status, expect to see them everywhere until nerfed into the ground. In addition to her pervious bits of goodness, her Whisperclaw now deals a Mortal Wound on an unmodified hit roll of 6, and while still a Wizard she gained an extra attack with her spear and can unbind an extra spell. Kept her absolutely brutal shooting attack, where you roll a dice for every model in a unit and every 5+ is a Mortal Wound, and has a metric ton of close combat attacks, with a theoretical maximum of 16 wounds (average dice rolls will probably render it closer to 5 or 6, depending on what turn it is).

• Bloodwrack Shrine: (160pts, Behemoth) While you should probably get a Cauldron of Blood first, if you wanted to keep the Queens and Avatar separate you will be left with a Bloodwrack Shrine, either that or you bought a second model. Benefitting from GW's seeming new case of Monstergirl love, it's only 50 points more than the Medusa on her own and 50 points cheaper than its previous cost while keeping all its goodies. It costs you 2 inches of movement but it more than doubles your wounds, gives you the Shrinekeepers attacks, the Bladed Impact rule AND gives you the Aura of Agony, which causes D3 mortal wounds ALL ENEMY UNITS within a 7" radius on a diminishing die roll, starting at 2+, which coupled with her Bloodwrack Stare means that the Shrine has the potential to be doling out a lot of mortal wounds in a given turn. They are also Wizards now, being able to cast/unbind a single spell per turn.

• If you've got an extra Cauldron to assemble as one of these, remember that it's only 50 points more than a normal Bloodwrack Medusa, trading in those 80 points and 2 points of movement for double the wounds, the Shrine Keepers attacks and the Aura of Agony. That's pretty cheap all told, and since it's not a monster, it's still harder to shoot in AoS2, so it's worth considering.
• Remember that a Bloodwrack Shrine can cast Steed of Shadows on itself to fly 16" and get that Aura of Agony + Bloodwrack Stare where it would hurt the most.

• Melusai Ironscale: (110pts) Daughters of Khaine's newest Hero! Decently killy with okay survivability having 6 wounds ignoring spells effects on a 5+. But where she shines is in her abilities. Anytime she kills a model in combat she can give a unit of Melusai wholly within 12" an extra attack (Seeing as how her attacks do D3 dmg this should be relatively easy to get off, more so if you give her an artifact). Combine this with the new command ability given by the Zainthar Kai Temple and you'll have your squad of 10 blood sisters doing 50 attacks(!) along with whatever other buffs you've given them. Her command ability allows her to patch up a major weakness in snake armies allowing a unit to run with 2d6 instead of 1d6 and allowing them to run and charge for that phase. And finally at the end of combat on a 3+ an enemy within an inch takes a mortal wound it's not gonna win you games but it's nice. Overall a must have if you are running a Melusai army.

• High Gladiatrix: (100pts) Arena of Shades' new Khainite hero, and she's very much a glass cannon of an assassin. Between both her weapons, she's got a good set of attacks at 3+/3+/-1/1 and her expanded pile-in range all but guarantees that she'll always be in the middle of a fight. On top of that, she has the special ability to insta-kill an enemy if she rolls a d3+however many wounds she dealt and it exceeds the enemy's total wounds. Her big draw is her buffing powers, as any Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter within 12" improve the wound rolls and Rend of their weapons by one step, making them a lot more dangerous.

Troops

• Witch Aelves: (BATTLELINE, Min:10, Max:30 100) The new battletome went and mixed it up a bit, giving Witch Aelves the Bladed Buckler rule which used to be unique to the Sisters of Slaughter. If you take the Buckler then they get a 5+ save (4+ within the blood shield aura) with any roll of a six causing an immediate mortal wound on the attacker. This and the Fanatical Faith allegiance ability has increased the Witch Aelves survivability somewhat. If you'd rather have them be more killy, you can swap the buckler for an extra sacrificial knife which grants them another attack, up to three per model, which makes them rather choppy for a cheap unit, this can be further upgraded thanks to the Frenzied Fervour rule which grants them a +1 bonus to wound whenever they are WHOLLY within 12" of DoK Hero in the combat phase, with each potentially throwing out 3 3+/3+/-/1 attacks per turn with rerolls depending on what turn it is, which isn't too terrible for a front-line unit. No matter what option you take they are still fragile though. Big units of 30 are currently staples of the tournament scene so make sure you take big unit so they can reach the enemy, though getting all 30 within 12" of a hero.
  • It's worth bearing in mind that if you took bucklers you should always take your save even if the enemy has a good rend value and your Witches actually have no hope of surviving. The save inflicts the mortal wound on a six after any rerolls but before modifiers such as rend or debuffs, thus you might get a free mortal wound or two on your opponent even though your ladies are caught in the headlights.
  • If you do the math, bucklers are better: slightly lower damage output (a difference of decimals even when counting stacks of bonuses to attacks) but they double your odds of surviving a hit, which will leave more witches on the table for more attacks and chances of mortal wounds; consider giving the buckler to all of your witches or at least most of them.
  • Combo well with the Melusai heros since they have a larger base and so have more wiggle room to get a full unit within range to use there Frenzied Fervour, same with the various heros on Cauldrons

• Sisters of Slaughter: (BATTLELINE, Min:10, 135) The counterpart to the Witch Aelves took a different role with the recent update. They lost their bonus to saves in close combat and are just as fragile as Witch Aelves, who now share the Bladed Buckler rule. They can trade their shield in for the Sacrificial knife, which gives them an additional short ranged attack at the expense of some durability. Their unique special rule is that they can be chosen to pile in and fight up from up to 6" away rather than 3", which means they have a massive threat radius without even charging and can jump on to the enemy during his own Combat Phase. A good use of these ladies might be to hover around your own units and perform a counter-charge whenever one of your weaker units gets threatened, dog-piling on the enemy when he thought he had the advantage. Their long pile in means that they're also one of the only units in the game that can bypass the Idoneth Deepkin's Turn 3 combat priority or the weird Gloomspite Gitz Fanatic "Always Strikes First" ability. No longer recieve a horde bonus and are more expensive than Witch Aelves now.
  • Witch Aelves and Sisters of Slaughter are very similar units, the major differences are that Sister of Slaughter have 2 range on the whips and can pile in from six inches. Witch Aeleves meanwhile get an extra attack if there within 8 inches of a hero and are slightly cheaper. These factors mean that the sisters work better in big hoards since they can pile in farther and have some range on the whips, while Wtich Aeleves function in smaller groups so they can better fit within 8 inches of a hero for there Frenzied Fervour.

• Blood Sisters: (Optional BATTLELINE: Bloodwrack Medusa General, Min:5, Max:20 130). Your gorgon snake-chicks whose job is to be the army's elite melee anchor unit. Armed with Glaives and their Crystal Touch attacks, they can throw out a reliable amount of damage every turn. Glaives have three 3+/3+/-1/1 attacks at 2" range which would be decent before you consider rerolls from Blood Rites or further buffs from prayers. Sadly Crystal touch took a nerf and now activates at the end of combat and targets 1 enemy unit within 1". The main problem is that they cost quite a lot for only a few models, yes they have two-wounds each but they are still fragile with a 5+ save(unless you bring a cauldron, which you should) and even with Fanatical Faith they really don't have a ton of staying power (for example despite being an elite unit they are less durable than a Liberator or Chaos Warrior) so you will be feeling the loss of each one heavily. Keep them protected with the massive number of buffs you can pile onto them. Large units are also a must simply because of the MASSIVE discount they get in groups of 20. They still pack a punch, and with Morathi's new ability they can get +1 Attack, as well as +1 attack from the new Ironscale. They can also benefit from the ironscales command ability which lets them run and charge with a 2d6 Run move.

• Blood Stalkers: (Optional BATTLELINE: Bloodwrack Medusa General, Min:5, Max:20 140) Not Longer terrible! In the shadow and pain box blood stalkers have had an upgrade. Now back to 140pts, they have 2 shots each at a 3+/3+/-1/1 with unmodified 6's still causing a mortal wound. This means a unit of 5 can pump out 10 shots now. Added with the changes to Morathri, this means they can also shoot in the hero phase for a command point. So a unit of 20 could do 80 shots a turn! They still have their 24" range and movement 8, with 2 basic attacks in combat. These can now make a solid backbone of a low drop force as you can alpha strike your biggest threat turn one. Worth looking into. Can no longer re roll hit's with blood rites, but are now battleline.

• Khinerai Lifetakers: (Min:5, Max:20 80pts) One of the new Khinerai Harpy units. Lifetakers behave pretty much like flying Witch Aelves. With a pair of average attacks and a version of the Bladed Buckler called the Heartpiercer Shield, which is essentially the same thing; granting them a 5+ save that causes mortal wounds to attackers on six. Strictly speaking they are worse in close combat than Witch Aelves, but they can FLY for one, as well as bein able to Deep Strike onto the battlefield anywhere more than 9" from the enemy. The real draw with Lifetakers over other similar units is that they gain +1 damage whenever they charge into combat and can also fall back from combat after they have completed all of their attacks on a die roll of 4+, so you can escape during an enemy turn and just charge them again on your own. Get enough of these together and they'll be taking anything down.

• In the new meeting engagement format, these ladies are golden. At 14" movement and a smaller board size in meeting engagement, you are better off deploying them at the edge of the board with a Hag queen. Buffed with Witch Brew and Catechism of Murder, a small unit of 5 will rip any light unit of 10 to shreds. Battleshock will finish the job and you even have a 50/50 chance of backing off to capture the nearby objective. Since they are just 1 wound per model, it works to your advantage when counting wounds to compete for victory points in meeting engagement.

• Khinerai Heartrenders: (Min:5, 95pts) The other of your two new Khinerai Harpy units. The Heartrender variant are your ranged specialists who can fling their barbed javelins up to 12" doing decent 3+/3+/-1/1 damage; although that's only one attack each. While this is actually pretty decent when you compare them to a similar unit like Prosecutors with Stormcall Javelins, Lifetakers come with even more special rules that make them useful. Firstly, they can Deep Strike, arriving anywhere on the table more than 9" from the enemy when you feel like, which is still happily within their shooting range, which also has their Rend characteristic boosed to -2 for that alpha strike attack. Allowing you to genuinely strategise with where to put them and what they can hurt. They can also shoot after running and fall back after shooting on a die roll of 4+, meaning that although 12" is quite a short range for a ranged weapon you have a chance of darting in and out an inevitable counter-charge when the enemy gets annoyed with you. They also have the Heartpiercer Shield which makes them more resilient though admittedly you don't want this unit in melee because they do so much better as a harassing unit.
  • At 90 points, it's not hard to get your points back for this unit in ways other than simply killing something outright. Drop two Draichi Ganeth Slaughter Troupe 5-Harpy units in your opponents back field and pepper a hiding hero with your Javelins until you can aggro one of his units to come take care of you. Note: Be mindful of your surroundings and don't drop into a bunch of gun lines... but if you do, they'll spend a turn shooting two 80 point units rather than your 300 point blobs of Witch's and Sister's. Anyways, if you get something to bite, let them charge you, then fly/run/retreat out of there towards your opponents now-isolated Hero and decide where to go from there.
  • Heartrenders can also serve as line backers, able to move and support your units where needed. Use this when faced against armies that put out more damage than they can handle, sitting them behind your hordes of Witches/Sisters to take the brunt of your opponents abuse and chucking Javelins at them then moving into combat to mop up whatever is left.
  • Arena of Shades shifted quite a bit of the heartrenders, least of all being that their shields are now a permanent addition, providing a 5+ save but losing the counterattack and hiking up their costs a bit.

• Doomfire Warlocks: (Min:5 140pts) The only males in the faction that you'll see on the tabletop. These guys are actually incredible. They are excessively fast at 14" and they now come with two-shot crossbows they are still great, as they're pretty tough and units of them are collectively Wizards. This makes them incredibly versatile already, letting you play small units to either shoot Mortal Wounds or buff your squishy ladies, but the really great part is their unique spell. First, it's casting value 6, so very easy to get off, then you get +1 to cast if the unit has 5+ models and then its a damage spell that scales to your unit size, topping at a flat 6 Mortal Wounds at 10+ models. Six. Mortal. Wounds. If your opponent sees that even once, he will focus your Warlocks down, but that's alright, since it means ignoring your Sisters of Slaughter and as soon as those ladies are in melee, your Warlocks are safe again.

• Another way to use them is to ignore their trademark spell and see them as a mobile buff support unit. Most time than not DOK tends to be a single directed steam roller which not many units to sit back and cap objectives. This is where The warlocks comes in, they are fast enough to cap and tough enough to stick a little longer vs smaller opposing units compared to using harpies for the similar role esp if they are within range to the blood shield! To top it off their insane 14" movement allows you to position your warlocks in such a way what they can be outside the 30" dispel radius from your opponent and still in range to buff your own units - So use them like the fluff - males whom are only useful as support units to empower our witches and cap objectives so the killing can be done by the girls of khaine.. I mean morathi...

• • Even though they are Cavalry, there are multiple ways of being able to Teleport them into the face of your opponent on Turn 1. Taking a Shadow Patrol with two units of 10 Warlocks and a General with the Khailebron Command Trait can do just this. That is 6 Mortal Wounds plus 40 4+/4+/-/1 Crossbow shots, and whatever spells you loaded onto the second unit hitting your opponent at once.*
  • Actually worth considering now since a 5 man unit gets +1 to casting now. Keep them out of range of ranged units and pump out those mortal wounds
  • Arena of Shades upped the ante as ALL their weapons improved their wound rolls.

• Khainite Shadowstalkers: (Min:9, Max:18, 100 points). Your Warcry Warband put into the main game. Unlike most Warcry Warbands however, it's actually pretty decent in Age of Sigmar. It has semi-decent damage output (a 6 inch range shooting attack that hits on 4s and wounds on 3s with no rend, 6s to hit are mortal wounds, and 2 4+, 3+ 1 damage melee attacks per model) with the main event being the unit champion (3, 3+, 3+, rend -1, D3 damage attacks). Enemies also have -1 to hit them in melee (making them tougher than they look), but none of that is why you take them. No, you take them because they can teleport around the battlefield at will. Even after being set up, they can bounce to any point on the field outside of 9 inches of the enemy, with no requirements (no CP, no magic, not even being in combat can stop them). The sheer level of mind games this lets you play with your opponent makes them worth taking right off the bat; Attacking isolated heroes, slipping past enemy lines to get at war machines, hopping onto abandoned objectives, all of it is incredibly easy for the Shadowstalkers and your opponent will have to account for all of it. And even if they do and you can't slip past enemy lines, you can still deploy them as a normal, if fragile, melee unit. Definitely worth a look, especially if you're rocking Khailebron (where they're at their most thematically appropriate).

Behemoth

Avatar of Khaine

(Behemoth 130pts) So you built a Bloodwrack Shrine and had the statue of Khaine left over? Well GW have fixed that for you. Like 40k Eldar players you can bring your very own incarnation of war and murder to the tabletop. Except this one is an spiky iron golem animated by the prayers of the nearest Death Hag rather than a burning daemon animated by the soul of a dead warrior. This means that the Avatar NEEDS to be accompanied by a Priestess and keep her protected, otherwise it stands on the battlefield doing nothing each turn and you'll have wasted your points. This becomes less of an issue if you have the Blood Rites allegiance ability, which automatically animates your statue from turn three onwards, but seriously, you want this thing moving before then because it's a heavy hitter. In close combat it throws out four attacks at -2 rend and 3 damage, making it your primary character slayer. It also has a ranged attack that spews blood all over the enemy, with six shots at 3+/3+/-2/1 (higher rend than its version on Cauldron) it is nothing to scoff at, making it the near equivalent of whole ranged units in other armies (for example: it causes more wounds than a 10 man squad of Glade Guard).

• One problem? The Avatar does very little other than be a simple beaststick, it does provide Daughter of Khaine a +1 bravery bonus within 7" although bravery is not one of the major problems the Daughters have to face (poor saves come higher on the list) though thankfully the bravery bonus applies whether the Avatar is animated or not, because it's still a giant religious icon of their war god.
• Buff your Avatar with Mindrazor and watch him wreck everything in range. His attacks will always be four attacks with -3 rend and 4(!) damage each on the charge. And once in if he is in blood shield aura range he can last quite a while with a 3+ save and 9 wounds
• Unfortunately the big issue with the Avatar of Khaine is that it comes on the Cauldron of Blood, which is just a much better use of it. It misses out on 3 inches of movement, but on the other hand, it can still move without being awoken and is accompanied by a Hag/Slaughter Queen and the extra attacks from her handmaidens, turning the Cauldron into an incredible beat stick once the Avatar is awake.

Battalions

Due to how Battalions are now universal, expect see the whole lot of this on the trash bin outside of narrative games. Bonus rules, traits and dodads are going to be likely added to the faction rules as default.

From Start Collecting

Blood Coven (not legal in pitched battles)

A Hag Queen, one unit of Witch Elves and a Bloodwrack Shrine.

Brides Of The Blade (from the new Start Collecting)

A Slaughter Queen, a Hag Queen, an Avatar of Khaine, one unit of Blood Stalkers or Blood Sisters and a Bloodwrack Shrine.

Once per battle, the Slaughter Queen can automatically unbind a spell instead of rolling the dice like normal.

From Battletome Daughters of Khaine

Cauldron Guard (120/540pt. min.)

A Hag Queen, two units of Witch Elves and two units of Khinerai Lifetakers.

Adds 1 to the units in the Cauldron Guards run and charge rolls. Anything that lets you move into combat faster is good. The Witch Aelves can charge after running, making them ridiculously fast (especially with rerolls of 1s) and now your Lifetakers make their charge on an 8 rather than a 9 after landing, letting them more consistently get the charge and their charging bonuses.

Slaughter Troupe (130/630pt. min.)

A Slaughter Queen, two units of Sisters of Slaughter and two units of Khinerai Heartrenders.

Lets all the units in the Battalion fall back and still shoot/charge. Given that in 2nd Edition of Age of Sigmar, you can only shoot at units you're in combat with, this lends the Heartrenders a lot of versatility, not needed in the Khelt Nar subfaction but it still has a use since know you need to have charged to get +1 dmg from Mindrazor

Shadow Patrol (130/770pt. min.)

Two units of Doomfire Warlocks and a total four units of Khinerai Heartrenders or Lifetakers.

In your movement phase, instead of making a normal move with a unit from this battalion, you can say that it will navigate the shadowpaths. If you do so, remove that unit from the battlefield and set it up again anywhere on the battlefield more than 9" from any enemy units. Holy shit. 6 units teleport around each turn all with very annoying ranged spells and attacks. Threaten objectives, snipe heros, and just generally be annoying.

From Grand Alliance Order

Bloodwrack Sisterhood (940 pt. min.)

A Cauldron of Blood, a unit of Bloodwrack Medusae, a Death Hag, and 3-6 units choose between the following: Witch Aelves Doomfire Warlocks or Sisters of Slaughter.

During your hero phase roll a D6 for each battalion unit within 3" of an enemy unit and within 9" of the Cauldron of Blood. On a 6 that unit can immediately pile in and attack as if it were the combat phase. This does not stop them from piling in and attacking again later that turn.

From Broken Realms: Morathi

Vyperic Guard (140/1160 pt. min.)

A Morathi-Khaine, a Shadow Queen, 1-2 Bloodwrack Medusae or Melusai Ironscales in any combination, 2-3 units of Blood Sisters or Blood Stalkers in any combination.

Once per battle, a hero from this battalion can use a command ability without spending a command point. Now fits all your battleline.

Scathcoven (140/560 pt. min.)

1 Bloodwrack Medusa or Melusai Ironscale, 1-4 Blood Sisters, 1-2 Blood Stalkers, 0-2 Khinerai Harpie units.

Units from this battalion do not take battleshock tests.

Shrine Brood (120/980 pt. min.)

2 Bloodwrack Shrines, 2 Units of Blood Sisters or Blood Stalkers in any combination, 2 Khinerai Harpie units.

In your hero phase, you can pick any number of units from this battalion that are within 6 inches of Shrine from the same Battalion. 1 model from each unit picked is slain. You can heal 1 wound allocated to the Shrine for each Khinerai model slain and 2 wounds for each Melusai model that was slain. Not sure why you would take 2 Bloodwrack Shrines, and Melusai are pretty expensive per model to be sacrificing to keep your Shrine alive.

Super-Battalions

From Battletome Daughters of Khaine

War Coven of Morathi (100/3160pt. min.)

1 Vyperic Guard, 1 Cauldron Guard, 1 Slaughter Troupe, 1 Scathcoven, 1 Shadow Patrol

Do not take a battleshock test for War Coven of Morathi units while Morathi-Khaine is on the board

Army Building

If it ever come back in stock, begin with the Daughters of Khaine Blood Coven box, and magnetize the Cauldron/Shrine so you can reconfigure it as needed.

Start out with ten Sisters of Slaughter and two boxes Doomfire Warlocks. If you happen to have the Mistweaver Saih from Silver Tower, add her.

Then, add a second box Sisters of Slaughter and a third box Doomfire Warlocks. You now have twenty crazy murder ladies and fifteen crazy mounted murder mages and possibly a Wizard to keep them company.

If you desperately want Witch Aelves, get thirty of them at once. That MIGHT be enough to get them into combat. With Khailebron, you are not so vulnerable to enemy shooting = more surviving Witch Aelves, and you can buff them and then teleport them to take out any key units the enemy has (preferably on turn 2+ for that secure charge). Peachy says that he has seen a full unit of buffed Witch Aelves go through a Great Unclean One in a turn, so Witch Aelves are definitely not "bad" as an unit choice. But still take them in groups of 30. Witch Aelves are expen$ive as fuck, though, so look for bargains or used models if you want several boxes worth of them.

Two boxes Khinerai Heartrenders add even more ranged damage and allow you play a Slaughter Troupe.

Alternatively if you want to start a Melusai get two halfs of the new Shadow and Pain set (Hell get three it's such a good deal and you can just sell off the extra Ironscales) and get two Start Collecting box's. This will leave you will 30 Melusai, 10 Hapries, and as many Heroes as you could want. From there either expand with some more Melusai, add in some wildcards with Sisters of slaughter/Doomfire Warlocks, or hell add in Morathi.

Allied Armies

• Cities of Sigmar: Apart from artillery, Phoenix Temple and Shadow Warriors units, anything they can do, you can do better. They can't do anything (else) better than you.

• Idoneth Deepkin: Ideally you want to grab some Ishlaenn Guard, as those guys will soak up obscene amounts of damage for you. Nothing else is really worth considering.

• Lumineth Realm-lords:

• Stormcast Eternals:

• Sylvaneth:

• Gotrek: Big Daddy Gotrek is back, and is one of the best killers in the game. Takes up half the average army if teamed up with Morathi and makes an awesome hammer and anvil combo. Hes slow through, so build around that.

• Bundo Whalebiter: A Kraken-eater Mega-Gargant mercenary available to all Order factions. Taking him uses up your entire ally points allowance and he ignores any Behemoth or Hero limitations. A big terrifying centerpiece who can kick objectives around and instantly kill models by shoving them into his net. You can choose at the start of the Combat phase for him to fight at the end of the phase, in exchange for re-rolling failed hit rolls.

External links

Rules are here

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-caludron-blood-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-witch-aelves-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-sisters-slaughter-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-bloodwrack-shrine-en.pdf

https://www.games-workshop.com/resources/PDF/AoS_Warscrolls/aos-warscroll-doomfire-warlocks-en.pdf

Age of Sigmar Tactics Articles
General Tactics	Tactics Realm Of Battle Malign Sorcery Path to Glory Skirmish
Order	Cities of Sigmar Daughters of Khaine Fyreslayers Idoneth Deepkin Kharadron Overlords Lumineth Realm-Lords Seraphon Stormcast Eternals Sylvaneth
Chaos	Beasts Of Chaos Blades of Khorne Disciples of Tzeentch Hedonites of Slaanesh Maggotkin of Nurgle Skaven Slaves to Darkness
Death	Flesh-Eater Courts Nighthaunt Ossiarch Bonereapers Soulblight Gravelords
Destruction	Gloomspite Gitz Ogor Mawtribes Orruk Warclans Sons of Behemat
Others	Monstrous Arcanum Legends Old Rules